House approves HMO lawsuit bill

The final vote Thursday on the bill was 275-151. Sixty-eight Republicans crossed party lines to vote with all but two Democrats.

The 16-member Michigan delegation was split along party lines with all six Republicans voting against the bill and the 10 Democrats voting for it.

The HMO bill, authored by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) would arm patients with a variety of new rights in dealing with health insurance companies.

It would make it easier to go to an emergency room or see a specialist and would give patients the chance to take their complaints to independent panels.

The biggest point of contention with the GOP leadership, which did not endorse the bill, was a provision to allow patients to sue an HMO in state court over disputes about their care. Many Republicans argued that would drive up the cost of insurance.

"The biggest problem with the Norwood-Dingell legislation is that it will likely result in more lawsuits, more time spend in courts, more fees to trial lawyers and, ultimately, higher costs for health care," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich).

Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) countered: "Can't we finally have enough courage to put doctors and patients back in control of their health care rather than allowing insurance companies and HMOs to arbitrarily make decisions of life and death?"

The bill goes to conference with the Senate, which passed a bill that does not offer new rights to sue.

On Wednesday, Republicans pushed through a bill, 227-205, aimed at reducing the ranks of the uninsured, which now stand at 44 million.

The Michigan delegation was split along party lines, with all six Republicans voting for it and the 10 Democrats voting against it.

Democrats contended the GOP bill would do little to solve the problem. "This bill does nothing except to help the insurance companies and the well-to-do and the healthy," Dingell said.

The bill included popular tax breaks for people buying health coverage on their own and for long-term care insurance. But it also includes a provision opposed by many Democrats that would allow more medical savings accounts, which let people opt out of the current health insurance market and buy high-deductible plans on their own.

10-11-99